


Nemo Sine Vitio Est

by Yosthegoosol



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:28:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23536807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yosthegoosol/pseuds/Yosthegoosol
Summary: Glimmer and Catra are trapped on Horde Prime's ship unsure of what to do next, and with no where to turn, they take comfort in each other.
Relationships: Catra/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 70





	Nemo Sine Vitio Est

As honored guests of Hordak Prime, Glimmer found it strange that she was to wait in what looked suspiciously like a cell. At least until she was allowed to have an audience with him. Not even a bed. Just cold smooth floor. And unlike the rest of the ship which glowed green, lighting the darkness with radioactive hues, this cell was completely dark.

She only had her hands to navigate. Following the walls with her palms pressing incessantly, she couldn’t find any sign of imperfection, anything skewed. She couldn’t even find where a possible door lay. Every once in a while a sliver of green light would open up in the darkness like an oozing wound, and food and water would be slid into the cell. This was how glimmer could tell time was still passing. She had to guess they were fed once a day, eating mush that tasted plain and unlike anything Glimmer had ever eaten. She wondered if humans were even meant to eat it. 

Catra didn’t eat it. 

“Catra you have to eat eventually,” Glimmer had told her once in frustration. Between Catra's deep silence and her inability to feed herself, Glimmer would grow concerned, wondering if her new roommate was even alive at some points. She would lay still, listening for signs of life and in a slight panic ask, “Catra?” And after a miserable second, Catra would groan. “What?” 

“I was just…”

“I’m still here, where else would I be?”

So Glimmer would shut her mouth, going back to hating the other girl instead of worrying about her.

The first few days were the hardest. Catra had talked horde prime into letting them share a cell. Glimmer had seen the slight panic bulge in the other girl’s eyes when she was about to be escorted away before she cleverly sweet talked her way into the one room. It made sense to stick together. 

Glimmer had trouble sleeping at first. Of course there were the obvious reasons of being far from home in the middle of who knows where in space trapped in an enemy ship, but there was also the fact that it was hard to sleep with Catra in the same room. Catra was her enemy, and although they were sticking together, helping each other survive, it still made her uneasy with a horde soldier lingering near her. She would wake up half in a panic like she had so carelessly fallen asleep in the presence of an enemy, until she remembered everything that happened.

Catra didn’t sleep either. At first Glimmer thought it was for the same reasons it was so difficult for herself to fall asleep but it was a week when she realized she had never seen Catra asleep. Even waking up in the middle of the night, sitting up abruptly, adrenaline pumping through her veins, an oddly gentle voice from the other side of the room would shush her. “Go back to sleep.” She would say. “You’re more or less safe.” Glimmer turned to see Catra lying on her side facing away in the dim green glow, but she could tell she hadn’t been sleeping. 

They didn’t say much to each other when they were first thrown in the cell, even when Glimmer had a million questions on her mind, a million ways to try and escape, a million frustrations ready to bubble over. Catra's usual temper had sizzled into indifference, and Glimmer was unsure of how to talk to her. 

“What’re we gonna do?” She asked, her voice more broken than she expected. She felt like she was talking to herself, and catra only stared at her, her eyes cutting through the darkness unnervingly. “Just wait for an opening,” catra had said, and that was the end of the conversation.

Glimmer wanted to ask about Horde Prime, who exactly he was. She didn’t know much about Hordak, even Adora didn’t disclose too many details. Whether that was from ignorance or fear, Glimmer didn’t know. Catra must have some understanding of Hordak, but she didn’t reveal any of that information. Glimmer thought of the brief but chilling exchange between Hordak and Horde Prime. Hordak was a clone? All of them, all the strange creatures in the ship were. Horde Prime had looked so strange, so more organic than his brethren. Everyone else was stiff, modified, dead looking. It was like Horde Prime and themselves were the only alive thing on the ship. Them and Hordak, but Glimmer doubted he was going to make it long...at least not as a Hordak anyone would recognize.

“Why hasn’t he talked to us?” Glimmer demanded from the dark room, knowing nobody would answer. “What is he waiting for?” And even louder she banged her fist against the nearest wall, yelling, “I am queen Glimmer, ruler of Brightmoon and I demand to speak to somebody!”

Infuriating silence answered and she cried out in frustration.

“Cool it sparkles, a temper tantrum isn’t going to help anybody.”

Another growl of frustration. “You’re not exactly being helpful here! What am I supposed to do, just lie around and stare into space all day? What happened to all that annoying energy?”

“I’m coming up with a plan.”

“Ever since we’ve been trapped here all you do is laze around and do nothing, you don’t even talk to me!”

Catra sneers. “Oh is the queen lonely? What do you want to talk about your majesty?”

She yelps when she’s suddenly pulled up by her shirt, Glimmer forcing her to sit up and face her, their faces almost touching, close enough that Catra can make out Glimmer’s angry snarl. And while normally she would find the little puff ball’s anger funny, she has to swallow a stiffness in her throat. 

“I thought we were going to try and get out of this. You saved me for some reason. You wanted to buy time right? Enough time to figure out how to get out of here? Or are you really waiting to get on Horde Prime’s good side like a coward?”

Catra’s eyes sharpen as she takes a fierce hold of Glimmer's wrist, pushing her away and forcing her back onto the cold floor in an instant. The look of surprise makes Catra smirk making her feel good for a moment for overpowering the other girl. 

“Listen to me,” the cat girl growled. “Let’s say we even make it out of this cell, what next? We’re right smack in the middle of Horde Prime’s ship, unsure of how many enemies surround us and how to even find an exit. And once we escape? We’re still surrounded. This is his armada. And you just want to bust out like it’s that easy?”

Glimmer flushed. Half in embarrassment that Catra was right and half because Catra was too close.

“The idea is to wait. Patience queen. Oh and don’t worry, I want out of here too.”

She slides off Glimmer so the girl can sit up. Glimmer gives Catra one pointed look before going to her side of the room.

It’s more days like that. At least Glimmer thinks it’s days. Her body begins to reject the mush, it’s taste making her gag with every spoonful. She’s starving, a fog over her brain and the only thing keeping her hopeful that she’s not being starved to death is that Horde Prime needs them. 

She’s also starting to get cold. She spends most of her time hiding in her own arms, wrapping her cape around herself tighter, and it gets harder to sleep. Everything feels like one continuous nightmare, that moment where dream fades in with reality. 

One time it’s so bad she begins to sob, not even caring if Catra will hear. She’s starting to care less and less. Not that it feels like Catra’s there anyway.

She waits for a snide comment, anything, but she’s practically crying in an empty room. Somehow it feels worse, to not even have Catra mock her for her weakness.

She feels like she’s done, and sniffles into the hard floor. She almost jumps when she hears Catra’s voice. “Are you cold?” 

She doesn’t even want to answer. She's mad at Catra, confused by her, questioning her intentions. However, when she lays in depressed silence a warm hand grabs her shoulder, and Glimmer wonders if Catra can see her clearly in the dark. “Hey,” Catra calls, sounding a little like how glimmer would call for Catra in the dark when she got too quiet. Timid, a slight panic hiding in the back of her throat. 

“Are you cold?” She asked again.

“Yes,” Glimmer murmured, her voice torn from her earlier crying.

“I don’t know if that four eyed idiot knows how humans work, he’s going to kill you with how cold it is.”

After a moment of Glimmer wondering if the other girl is worried about her, she feels arms wrap around her.

“W-What are you-“

“Helping you stay warm. Do you want to die?”

Glimmer had so many retorts, but really she’s tired and cold and Catra’s fur and hot blood underneath it, feels good, and the little buzz that flows through the girl’s lithe limbs feel comforting so she shuts her mouth, letting herself fall deeper into her companion’s chest. She tells herself Catra is keeping her alive for her own selfish interests but she can’t deny how much she’s craved somebody to just hold her, even if that person is her enemy. 

Catra’s hands are thrown around her stomach, making her gut flutter in nervous discomfort, her chest is soft and pressing against Glimmer’s back, their legs awkwardly press against each other, and Glimmer is aware of every breath that hits the back of her neck. They’re like that long enough for Glimmer to relax, for their bodies to mold into each other more easily. Glimmer hears Catra’s breath slow down in calm waves, and before she herself falls asleep she hears a slight snore.

It’s a shock when the door opens, and the low glow of green that entangles the ship like veins feel brighter than any light before. Catra and Glimmer are wrapped around each other, before Glimmer scrambles out of the girl’s arms.

It’s almost a shock to see Catra when she’s not covered in darkness. She had been the only thing tethering Glimmer to reality. Feeling her breath, knowing there was another person in there with her, it was the only comfort she had, and now that comfort is illuminated in light after many days of darkness. She feels as if she’s seeing Catra for the first time. Her eyes and ears are alert, her mismatched irises staring right into her own pink. She looks away, images flooding back of the past. Catra is the reason her mother is gone, she’s the reason she’s fighting so hard. Looking away from Catra’s piercing stare, she turns to face the blinding light, only to see a clone standing in the doorway. 

“Horde Prime requests the presence of Queen Glimmer.”

“W-what about Catra?” Glimmer asks, almost tripping over herself getting to her feet. 

“Only Queen Glimmer.”

She looks back to Catra, who is tense, her ears twitching. They share a look before Catra nods her head to Glimmer as if to say, go on. 

She timidly follows the guard out of the cell, trying to shake away the feeling of Catra’s body against her own.

**Author's Note:**

> Can I offer you some Glitra in this trying time? 
> 
> Depressed and quarantined, I decided to dig out some old wips. Might as well post them. This can possibly continue if there's enough interest to do so but I'm content with it being a short one-shot for now.


End file.
